Murder trial delayed after witness slain

Defendant's ex-girlfriend gunned down.

Updated 6:01 am, Wednesday, October 2, 2013

Martin Barrera Balboa is accused of being the getaway driver in a 2003 killing on the South Side.

Martin Barrera Balboa is accused of being the getaway driver in a 2003 killing on the South Side.

Murder trial delayed after witness slain

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SAN ANTONIO – A woman who was gunned down in her driveway this weekend, just days before she was slated to be a critical prosecution witness in her ex-boyfriend's murder trial, had expressed fear in the past about testifying, officials said Tuesday as the trial was postponed.

Murder defendant Martin Barrera Balboa, 44, who is on bond awaiting trial in what had become an almost decade-old cold case, appeared as scheduled Tuesday morning at the 227th state District Court. He declined to comment as he left the courthouse.

“The state needs additional time to reassess its trial strategy in light of the death of Ms. Rodriguez,” prosecutors noted in a motion for continuance, which Judge Philip Kazen granted over the objection of defense attorney Raymond Fuchs.

Authorities allege Balboa was the getaway driver on the night in November 2003 when Joseph “J.D.” Delgado, 27, was shot four times by a masked man as he played basketball with co-workers at a South Side community center.

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Police did not release a motive for the 2003 shooting when Balboa was transferred to the Bexar County Jail in 2011 from prison, where he was serving a five-year term for felony driving while intoxicated.

After the brief hearing Tuesday, Assistant District Attorney Rita Spiegel described Rodriguez as a kind, brave lady.

“She seemed to me like she had gotten her life together. She was in a different place now than she was 10 years ago, in my opinion,” Spiegel said. “She was cooperating and always picked up the phone. She really wanted to do the right thing.

“It breaks my heart and I feel sorry for her children.”

Prosecutors declined to divulge what Rodriguez's testimony would have been.

Although Rodriguez expressed fear early on about testifying, she didn't as the trial got closer, Spiegel said, adding that witness reservations are not unusual. Balboa is restricted, under conditions of his bond, from contacting any of the witnesses in his case.

Witnesses to the Sunday morning shooting in the 6400 block of Brownleaf Drive in front of Rodriguez's West Side home, described the attacker as a male 20 to 30 years old, about 5-feet-8 and 160 pounds.

The suspect ran toward a gray four-door sedan with dark tinted windows, a sunroof, and possibly paper plates, according to police.

Rodriguez's 14- and 16-year-old sons were in her white 2008 Toyota Tundra, about to accompany her to church, when the shooting began. One of the sons said he did not recognize the shooter and didn't think his mom knew him either, police said.

“At first I thought it was someone knocking hard at our door,” said a who did not want to be named because of safety concerns.

The suspect began shooting at Rodriguez from the edge of her driveway and continued to walk toward her until he was shooting from directly on top of her, police said.

The son in the back seat of the truck was reading a book when the gunfire started and looked up to see where it was coming from, police noted. Both sons told police they saw the shooter firing at their mom as she lay face up on the ground.

“Whoever did it knew what they were going to do that day,” said the neighbor, referring to the fact that Rodriguez's sons and her 21-year-old daughter, who was nearby at the front door, were unharmed. “That's what they came to do.”

Neighbors described Rodriguez as a loving single mother who worked as a hairstylist, was helping to put her daughter through school and always attended church with her children.

Her sons were described as polite and well-behaved, and Rodriguez would attend their Jay High School basketball games.